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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106337">Flowers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/t0x1cm4sc/pseuds/t0x1cm4sc'>t0x1cm4sc</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hunger Games Series - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crushes, F/M, Gen, Poor little finnick is here for two seconds and the most confused boy on earth, This isn’t really a ship fic because Annie is nine and barely even has a crush, annie is just simply ridiculous she’s having a great fun time, do not fear this Was written by an actually autistic person, flower antics, little Annie is autistic and does not understand people being demeaning towards her</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:15:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,739</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106337</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/t0x1cm4sc/pseuds/t0x1cm4sc</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Annie declares she has a crush for the sake of playing along with her classmates’ game, little does she know what the “crush” will one day become.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Canon Odesta</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flowers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>⠀⠀Annie Cresta was in the field outside the justice building, close to the other girls but not quite with them. She sat on the grass, picking flowers and gently weaving their stems together, she could make something of this, she was sure. She’d seen her older sister make simple things with the knots they use for nets, she knew the basics, it couldn’t be so hard.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Gently she hummed, gently she worked, careful not to hurt so much as a petal on the flowers. They were almost too delicate to work with, but that was the charm of it she supposed, what would make the end such an accomplishment. Every now and then she pulled a stem too harshly, ripped something somewhere she shouldn’t have, but those flowers were added to a pile by her side, she’d take them home and put them in water.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Natalia was at the academy today, enrolling in the classes that would start this fall. Next year, Annie would do the same, she didn’t quite /want/ to, but being in the career academy was simply how they were supposed to do things, it was what’s right. With her mother there with her sister and her father on the water, the little girl was left to her own devices. She was /supposed/ to stay home, but it was too nice of a day, she just had to get out.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Only a little bit away, maybe three yards, the girls from school played. They were running, yelling and laughing. Annie felt slightly envious of them, but she wasn’t so sure why. It wasn’t jealousy, because she didn’t quite want to play with them, but the idea of having that laughter with friends felt so /light/, she wanted to have it too. They were all friends, surely they were, but she didn’t care for their games, for laughing about boys.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀After some time - it had to have been a /bit/ of time because her crown was three quarters done now - Annie was approached by the mayor’s daughter. They’d gone to school together for years, ever since they started, she supposed it would only make sense to consider Pearl her friend.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”Dotty Annie,” she looked up, grinning at the brown haired girl, “why don’t you come and play with us?” She almost sounded like she was teasing her, almost dry, but that couldn’t be true, they were again /friends/.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”I’m making something,” Annie replied easily, holding up the flowers she had, she could’ve sworn Pearl rolled her eyes. “It’s for my sister I think, she’s going to be a career!” It was exciting, even if most kids here were, it had to be exciting, an accomplishment.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”Can’t you finish that later? We want you to come and play.”<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Had Annie been less naïve, she would’ve noticed then and so many other times that the other girls taunted her, were almost just cruel. They picked at how genuine she was, at how kind. They deemed her dotty because she wasn’t quite crazy, she couldn’t be for how calm she always was, but she wasn’t /normal/ either. Although as a little nine year old, Annie took dotty like it was a nickname, it made her feel special. It made her feel like she had friends.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Annie looked down at the flowers, she supposed she could. She’d started to get the hang of how to weave the flowers, it would be quick to finish when she was done playing for a while. So she looked back up at Pearl, nodding and standing all in one go. “I’d love to play.” She grinned, letting out even a faint squeak and a laugh. Happiness had /always/ had a way of consuming her, of making her let out uncontrolable sounds.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She was up and Pearl was grabbing her hand, laughing too as she ran and pulled Annie along with her. They got to the fountain and Annie put the flowers she had on the marble edge, they’d be safe there surely.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She watched the other girls, there were only a few more, but she wanted to be sure she got their game down. They would pick flowers, repeat the same phrases to themselves and laugh. She could do that easily. Or, she could try. She’d hate to hurt the flowers though, to pick them to use for art and brighten things was one thing, but to pick them just to hurt them further? It felt cruel. Although the last time she had expressed something like this to her friends (she felt bad about the bait for fishing, then for the fish) they had laughed at her, called her “silly dotty” and brushed it off.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She picked a flower, watching the others still so carefully. It was important she did this right, that she didn’t mess up. She really didn’t want them to laugh at her, last time she had she had started crying so much her sister had to hold her so she didn’t move around too. She had to do this /right/ so she could be just as good as her friends.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She picked a petal off, “he loves me,” she said carefully, eyeing at Pearl and getting a nod of encouragement. So she repeated the action, this time followed by “he loves me not,” which made her quite sad, even with no “he” in mind, she hated the idea of not being loved. Of hurting a flower only to get hate from it’s beautiful petals.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She repeated the action a few more times, alternating between the phrases before she only had a couple more petals left. Before Pearl stopped her with giggles.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”Dotty, who are you thinking about?” It confused her, she quirked a brow, not wanting to verbally admit the confusion, maybe that would spare the laughter. “What boy do you hope loves you?”<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Oh. She hadn’t realized she needed to /actually/ have someone in mind to play the game. She had done it all wrong, now they would surely laugh at her.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀But they hadn’t laughed yet, some giggles, she felt herself get red, frustrated.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”Come on Annie, who's your crush?” A girl named Cordelia asked, she laughed, but it wasn’t /mean/, they must’ve thought she was embarrassed.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She wasn’t, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Especially since she didn’t have any /actual/ crush. So she took a small breath, shook her head and laughed herself.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”Finnick Odair,” the name came easily, before she could even fully think about it. He was a popular boy, in her sister’s year. Everyone liked him, it would be okay that she lied with saying him.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Pearl laughed, this one wasn’t as kind as Cordelia’s. “Really? You know you don’t have any chance, Dotty Annie,”<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀What she said didn’t matter, she didn’t have any crush at all. So she shrugged, she smiled at Pearl, “I know,” she said easily, like she wasn’t bothered (because she truly wasn’t).<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”He loves me not,” she now said to herself, ignoring the other girls as she pulled a petal. Then it was the last one, “he loves me.”<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She let out a squeak, not one she could help, but she hadn’t hurt the flower out of cruelty, it gave something positive. Not that the pretty Odair boy /could/ love her, he surely didn’t know who she was. A girl much too small for her age, much too quiet and unnoticed even by her peers. Not that she wanted him too, again, it wasn’t a crush, she was just playing their game. Still it was /nice/, the flower had been kind to her.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀A little while later she was back in the field, the other girls returning to their homes and she waited for the old clock to chime that her mother and sister were done. She worked on her flower crown, finishing it and then adding to it how she could. It was wonderful, using petals she picked up from the game to fill it in.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀And then twenty minutes later she was racing off to the academy to meet her family, she could give her sister the crown right then, they surely couldn’t be upset with her for disobeying them.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Except on her way she ran into the pretty Odair boy, almost quite literally, stopping in her tracks before she /actually/ ran into him. She grinned, waved, wondered who else looked at them, wondered if any of the girls had. He waved back and he had the same cocky smile he always did, she wondered if he was really that cocky.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Then she had an idea, she squealed and squeaked just as he stopped, he began to say hello, she wondered if he knew her name. She didn’t give him time to try to, instead she jumped, nearly /leapt/ and got her creation on his head. He was much taller than her, but she managed. It was lopsided, but that was better than perfect.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀She clapped, squeaking and chirping not /enough/ anymore, he smiled almost, she was sure he did. He must’ve been with his father, must’ve been leaving from enrollment too. He’d make a wonderful career, he was already smart, strong when it came to work on the boats, he was all but destined to be one.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Then she remembered /why/ she was outside the academy and was running from him as fast as she had been there, just in time to see her sister come out of the building.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”Why are you so bright?” Natalia asked as she gave her an almost crashing hug (Annie had failed to slow down this time, they both nearly fell down).<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”I played with the girls today!” She chirped proudly, her mother picking her up, which was simply /easier/ in the crowd with how small she was. “And I gave the pretty Odair boy flowers, I think he loved them, and the flowers said he loves me!”<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀”The flowers spoke to you?” Her mother asked curiously, and Annie giggled and nodded, starting to explain the game to them as they walked home.<br/>
⠀⠀<br/>
⠀⠀Annie had been too busy explaining every detail of her afternoon that she didn’t give Natalia time to talk about the tests she had to do that day, that instead was saved for dinner conversation. Except of course, Annie didn’t pay attention then either. Instead she stared out at the sunset as she picked at her food, wondering if the pretty Odair boy knew her name.</p>
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